Hole repair..... :-/

[FitchUpNorth]

Well, the girl is home and in the heated garage, being as it is a balmy 12 out tonight here in the sub tundra. Have the "patch kit" from Consolidated Aircraft, and am ready to rock and roll.... Question for all you knowledgable ones from a production/heavy iron kinda guy.....

Do I trim the holes to "clean them up" or just install the patch right over top? And also, where in the hell can you buy REAL MEK these days, not this "substitute" crap they pawn off on you? What a load of bull****. Friggin Bunny-Huggers take all the fun out of everything... :-)


One more question..... Is it acceptable for me to kiss her good night once I tuck her into her warm bed for the night? Ah, screw it, I do anyways. :-)

Does anyone know or have, silhouette drawings of a KF, suitable for paint scheme sketching? I really don't want to make my own by tracing... LOL

As always.....God Bless you all and keep the greasy side down....

Denny

[Av8r3400]

I got some real (stinky) MEK at Ace Hardware. MN laws may be different from WI, though...

It's not a III, but close enough to do some sketching.

[FitchUpNorth]

AV,

I may have to dart across the river to Osceola then. Our Ace here only had the BS "substitute" MEK. Side note, it works like crap. LOL

Does clean my tools pretty well though, so not wasted money. But not helping me along the PolyTone removal path either.

Thanks for the sketches.... Have all cabin fever winter to design something totally ridiculous for a paint scheme....

[Dave S]

Denny,

The Hugo Feed Mill at Hugo MN (not too far from your place) used to have 1 gallon cans of MEK in their attached hardware store due to the number of motorheads/carnuts/backyard car painters who needed it in the neighborhood.

http://hugofeedmill.com/

Since I am past the big consumption phase of stuff like this when I was building....the last MEK I bought was at Menard's in a Quart can (they don't have gallons and I didn't need that much anyway).

I am guessing ACE also would have it in MN as they do in WI......used to have an ACE (now closed) by KSGS that kept everyone at the 'port supplied with MEK and wire gauge drills and a lot of other stuff good for airplanes.

Figure all of these guys have the good stuff...stinks bad ...makes lutefisk out of one's lungs if you are not careful and burns real good.......:eek:

BTW - on the trimming....If a person can make it all stick between the old ripped fabric and the new patch.......not a problem just sticking it down rather than trimming. You don't want a loose piece of the old stuff flopping around to start a future delamination so if it is in a place where you can't make it stick to the new patch...probably better to trim off anything that may flop around. Thinking you might be able to brush it down by going in the end of the wing - looking at the location of the rip. If you can stick the old to the new it is probably a sturdier repair...at least that is what I have seen with A & P's who know how to do fabric airplanes (certified ones).

Dave S
KF7 Trigear - Flying
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

[t j]

Denny, I trust you have the manual for the covering system used on your kitfox? If its poly fiber the manual has some specific things about that hole on the top of the wing.

With poly fiber and polytone the manual says to trim the ragged parts out of the hole.

Here's a 3 view templet PDF of a Model 3.

[Dave Holl]

I didn't think MEK touched polytone, I thought that you had to sand it off?

[FitchUpNorth]

Dave,

MEK won't touch Aerothane. It's the magic bullet for PolyTone. Coincidentally if I can't find REAL MEK I will be sanding it regardless.

Wonder if Acetone would work also.....not willing to risk incidental damage to the fabric to find out though.... I can find Acetone by the 55 gallon drum.

Will keep you guys apprised...going to be an all winter project. Sadly, the truck got evicted into the cold for the year now. LOL

[jtpitkin06]

Just for those that missed it, the painting templates are on the Kitfox LLC site buried in Technical FAQ's

There are three views for the IV, 5,6 and 7 with and without nose gear and smooth or bump cowl.

http://www.kitfoxaircraft.com/Paint%20Templates.htm

JP

[MotReklaw]

I wonder if anyone has a .gif, .jpg or other picture file of this view that can be resized?




Just for those that missed it, the painting templates are on the Kitfox LLC site buried in Technical FAQ's

There are three views for the IV, 5,6 and 7 with and without nose gear and smooth or bump cowl.

http://www.kitfoxaircraft.com/Paint%20Templates.htm

JP

[Dave Holl]

Silly me I should have checked with my polyfibre manual before posting!

[n85ae]

Actually, not really true. MEK on the polybrush side of the fabric (i.e. the
inside) will instantly lift the aerothane. It will blister right off ... Don't ask
how I know this, just be carefull if you do ANYTHING with MEK around a
plane with Aerothane, OR Polytone.

Regard's,
Jeff


Dave,

MEK won't touch Aerothane. It's the magic bullet for PolyTone. Coincidentally if I can't find REAL MEK I will be sanding it regardless.

Wonder if Acetone would work also.....not willing to risk incidental damage to the fabric to find out though.... I can find Acetone by the 55 gallon drum.

Will keep you guys apprised...going to be an all winter project. Sadly, the truck got evicted into the cold for the year now. LOL

[Dave S]

Both comments are correct...according to the Polyfiber manual.....if you want to remove Aerothane....scrub some MEK on the backside or the polybrush/polyspray side...it bubbles up just as Jeff said; however, this happens because the MEK dissolves the un-polymerized undercoats (polybrush and polyspray) which are entirely soluble in MEK...

MEK does not dissolve Aerothane at all...just the undercoats if you hit it from the backside - which can be useful if you want and need to do that.

A solid coat of Aerothane will remain unaffected by MEK if the MEK is applied to the outside.......also a useful deal....I have on occasion used a MEK soaked rag to get some really stubborn crud off the outside of the plane, which is painted in Aerothane. The caveat is the Aerothane coat has to be solid/no cracks or breaks in the aerothane coat. If there is a crack or void in the Aerothane.....it is bubble city.

Polytone is very serviceable in that it can be sequentially un-painted...the top colorcoat of polytone can be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag leaving most of the Polyspray....the polyspray can then be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag leaving most of the Polybrush...the polybrush can then be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag down to the fabric and a person can then repair and rebuild his paint job after everything dries off. The down side is a Polytone finished airplane does not have the stain and solvent resistance that Aerothane does.

Turns out that Polytone and Aerothane are just plain different critters, each with it's own good and bad points...

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF7 Trigear _ Flying
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

[FitchUpNorth]

Well, finally found real MEK. Who would have thought I could be so grateful to Wisconsinites? Had to cross state lines to get it. Dave, Hugo feed mill no longer carries it. Owner told me due to environmental lobbying and pressure.

Regardless ... Starting to fix the bird today. What? There is some sort of occasion or something in the next 2 days besides fixing the Kit?

:-)


Greasy side down.





Both comments are correct...according to the Polyfiber manual.....if you want to remove Aerothane....scrub some MEK on the backside or the polybrush/polyspray side...it bubbles up just as Jeff said; however, this happens because the MEK dissolves the un-polymerized undercoats (polybrush and polyspray) which are entirely soluble in MEK...

MEK does not dissolve Aerothane at all...just the undercoats if you hit it from the backside - which can be useful if you want and need to do that.

A solid coat of Aerothane will remain unaffected by MEK if the MEK is applied to the outside.......also a useful deal....I have on occasion used a MEK soaked rag to get some really stubborn crud off the outside of the plane, which is painted in Aerothane. The caveat is the Aerothane coat has to be solid/no cracks or breaks in the aerothane coat. If there is a crack or void in the Aerothane.....it is bubble city.

Polytone is very serviceable in that it can be sequentially un-painted...the top colorcoat of polytone can be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag leaving most of the Polyspray....the polyspray can then be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag leaving most of the Polybrush...the polybrush can then be ragged off with a MEK soaked rag down to the fabric and a person can then repair and rebuild his paint job after everything dries off. The down side is a Polytone finished airplane does not have the stain and solvent resistance that Aerothane does.

Turns out that Polytone and Aerothane are just plain different critters, each with it's own good and bad points...

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF7 Trigear _ Flying
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

[HighWing]

One more addition to Dave's comment. I once repaired a small puncture from the back side using a piece of fabric and Polytac. Not a good idea as Polytac is loaded with MEK. Now if repairing small holes, I use Hysol to secure the fabric patch on the back and use two vinyl coated aluminium sheets secured with magnets to hold it flat until cured.
Lowell

[akflyer]

I used acetone to do all my polyfiber work. It does not evaporate as quick as the MEK and it will cut the polytone down to bare fabric in seconds.

[jtpitkin06]

http://www.polyfiber.com/techquestions/fabricrepairs/index.htm